[Diagnosis and therapy of hoarseness]

A patient consulting his physician because of hoarseness often suffers from viral laryngitis. This infectious disease usually heals within one or two weeks. If the hoarseness persists for more than three weeks, the patient should be examined by laryngoscopy to exclude a laryngeal cancer. The differential diagnosis includes other organic or functional lesions. Voice therapy is the treatment of choice for functional voice disturbances and for disorders of pubertal mutation, which very rarely are due to hormonal changes. Organic lesions are usually treated by surgery.